Campus Activities Board Strives to Plan for Students

Roanoke College’s Campus Activities Board, has tried to plan events and activities for students to participate in to relax after a long week of classes and homework. But there is a problem, not a lot of students are coming to participate in these events.

“Students are just over involved,” said Chad Quinones, area coordinator and advisor of CAB. “So by the time the weekend comes along, people just want to relax.”

The members of CAB meet weekly to plan activities which they like and believe the students will be interested in. This year, new events have been planned that will hopefully draw a larger portion of the students including a laser tag arena, more music events, and of course Bingo. Also, CAB has started collaborating with the different Greek organizations and the Panhellenic Committee to plan activities with the different fraternities and sororities on campus.

“CAB’s main goal is to give students the opportunity to be on campus, in a controlled environment with quality entertainment, on a Saturday night.” Quinones said.

Alcohol generally is not served at CAB sponsored events, though special event accommodations have been made in the past. A reason for this is because nearly 75% of all students are underage. Campus sponsored activities and events without alcohol provide awareness that fun can still be had without the consumption of alcohol.

“It is important to help students, especially freshman, realize that alcohol does not have to be involved to have fun.” Quinones said.

Each week posters are hung up all around the Colket Center and the Commons informing students of the weekend’s activities, though that form of advertising is not enough. CAB has its own Facebook page with the same information, but another form of advertising which could help is word of mouth advertising.

“Students cannot attend events they don’t know about. It’s the responsibility of CAB members to inform the students including by telling people about the events; being excited as well.” Quinones said.

Each year, a small group of CAB members participate in the National Association for Campus Activities conference that is held within Virginia’s region. At the conference, they have an opportunity to preview many different musical artists, speakers, comedians, and many other acts to develop ideas for activities to bring to campus.